Airport campaigners attack 'flawed' emissions plans

Thursday 14 December 2006 12.43 EST
First published on Thursday 14 December 2006 12.43 EST

European proposals for emissions trading schemes for aviation will do nothing to make planes "green", anti-airport expansion groups said today.

They added that European Commission plans, to be released next week, would only trim the growth in air travel by between 1.7% and 2.9% over the 15-year period to 2020.

The groups also said the EC plans made it clear that aviation would not be subject to emissions trading until 2011 at the earliest.

Emissions trading allows companies to emit set amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2). If they emit less, they can sell the balance, while those who emit too much can either buy other companies' unused allocations or face fines. The groups, which said they had seen a leaked copy of the EC proposals, said that the Government would rely on "a flawed emissions trading scheme" to push ahead with its airport expansion plans.

These plans were outlined in the 2003 aviation white paper, on which a progress report was being made today by the government.

John Stewart, chairman of Heathrow campaign group Hacan ClearSkies said: "Air travel is growing at an unsustainable rate and all that this much over-hyped European emissions trading scheme will do is postpone the projected 2020 level of air travel until the spring or summer of 2021.

"By that time the volume of European air travel will have quadrupled since the 1990 Kyoto base year. This is another example of the government talking tough on climate change but doing nothing."

Brian Ross, economic adviser to the Stop Stansted Expansion group, said: "For the past three years the government has used emissions trading as a fig leaf for defending the aviation industry's tax exemptions on everything from fuel duty to VAT and doing nothing to tackle its climate change impact.

"We are now being told that it will be at least 2011 before anything happens. Even then, the proposal that is on the table is entirely meaningless."

Gatwick Area Conservation Campaign chairman Brendon Sewill said: "The emissions trading scheme is meaningless in terms of reducing the damage done by aviation. Moreover, all the claims made by the aviation industry about its economic importance are made false by the huge tax subsidies the industry still receives.

"Even after the increase in air passenger duty the subsidy for air travel, due to its exemption from fuel tax and VAT, is about £9bn a year. When that is factored in, there is no economic case for any new runways."